Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Wes Streeting MP, has made an announcement in the House of Commons outlining the outcome of the review of the New Hospital Programme (NHP).
Wes Streeting confirmed funding and what he deems a ‘realistic’ updated timetable to put the NHP on track to deliver all the hospital projects under the scheme.
It follows a review of the scheme which found that the former Conservative government’s pledge to deliver 40 new hospitals by 2030 was “behind schedule, unfunded and therefore undeliverable.”
Wes Streeting confirmed funding and what he deems a ‘realistic’ updated timetable to put the New Hospital Programme on track
In May 2023, the Conservative government announced that the programme was backed by over £20 billion of investment, but the new Labour government found that this funding was never delivered.
In its annual report, the Infrastructure Projects Authority (IPA) also deemed the previous scheme ‘unachievable’, rating the programme as red and highlighting major issues including the schedule and budget.
However, an independent IPA review upgraded the New Hospitals Programme from red to an amber rating last week, “thanks to action taken to improve deliverability,” according to a statement by the Labour government.
The New Hospital Programme we inherited was unfunded and undeliverable
Health and Social Care Secretary, Wes Streeting, said: “The New Hospital Programme we inherited was unfunded and undeliverable. Not a single new hospital was built in the past five years, and there was no credible funding plan to build forty in the next five years.
“When I walked into the Department of Health and Social Care, I was told that the funding for the New Hospitals Programme runs out in March. We were determined to put the programme on a firm footing, so we can build the new hospitals our NHS needs.
“Today we are setting out an honest, funded, and deliverable programme to rebuild our NHS."
The "waves"
The revised NHP under the Labour government has grouped the hospitals in the programme into waves.
For schemes that were out of the scope of the review, those already with approved Full Business Cases will continue as planned and are already in construction (Wave 0).
The remaining schemes will be allocated to one of three wave groups:
- Schemes in Wave 1 are expected to begin construction between 2025 and 2030. These schemes include hospitals constructed primarily using RAAC, and have been prioritised due to the high risk to patient and staff safety.
- Schemes in Waves 2 are expected to begin construction between 2030 and 2035.
- Schemes in Wave 3 are expected to begin construction between 2035 and 2039.
The revised New Hospital Programme will be backed with £15 billion of new investment over consecutive five-year waves, averaging £3 billion a year.
The revised New Hospitals Programme under the Labour government has grouped the hospitals in the programme into waves
At the Budget, the Chancellor announced that health capital spending in the NHS is set to increase to record levels of £13.6 billion in 2025-26.
What about those in the third wave?
St Mary’s, Charing Cross and Hammersmith hospitals have been included in the third wave, which would see building starting between 2035 and 2039.
Chief Executive of Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, Professor Tim Orchard, said: “This is devastating news for our communities, our staff and patients, and for the whole of the capital’s healthcare system.
“We understand that the Government’s New Hospital Programme must be affordable but the simple truth is that St Mary’s Hospital, in particular, will not last until the 2040s.
“We run London’s busiest major trauma centre and care for more than a million patients a year. We have to find a way to progress our schemes more quickly.
“This includes exploring alternative funding approaches, leveraging the value of our land that will be surplus to requirements and the significant contribution of our life science partnerships to local and national economic growth.”